


I'll Tell You Something I Think You'll Understand

by BetsyFangirl



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-03
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-04-24 14:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4923937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetsyFangirl/pseuds/BetsyFangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Darcy/Steve month on my Tumblr dash. This is from the promtathon prompt "You’re afraid that you’ll lose me in big crowds so you always hold my hand but now you just hold my hand when there’s only, like, five people around and I’m getting very suspicious."</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Tell You Something I Think You'll Understand

I’ll Tell You Something I Think You’ll Understand

 

After spending so much of his life being the smallest guy in the room, Steve never fully adjusted to the height given to him by Dr. Erskine’s serum. How had Bucky managed to keep track of him all those years? It was way too easy to lose shorter people in a crowd. 

Steve’s heart rate ticked up a notch when he realized that one of his very favorite shorter people had been swallowed up by the horde of people leaving the music venue. At five-three, Darcy Lewis was nearly a foot shorter than him and he knew for a fact that she wasn’t wearing heels at the moment. 

_“I think you’ll like this band, Steve. They’re folksy without being pretentious,” she had said, lacing up her sneakers. “But you can still dance to them. And with standing room only, it’s no place for heels. Now help a lady up.” She stretched out her hand and wiggled her fingers at him._

“Darcy?!” he shouted, possibly louder than necessary. 

“Right here, Steve-o,” she said, walking up behind him and stepping around. “You haven’t lost me yet.”

“Good. C’mon,” he didn’t know what possessed him to take her hand in his but he went with it, “don’t let go. If I have to tell Tony or Jane that I couldn’t keep track of you they’ll lock me out of the tower and let Hulk play with my shield.” Her hand fit well in his. He did _not_ feel his cheeks pink at the thought. Not a bit. She didn’t drop his hand until they made it home. 

 

What originally started as Darcy being Steve’s unofficial guide to Popular Culture 101, had become more than that. Maybe not as much as he hoped it would become, but he didn’t say that bit out loud. While he may have had completely honorable intentions when he first grabbed her hand in the mass of concert-goers, he realized now that it had been a stroke of genius on his part. He liked Darcy being close to him. She didn’t seem to mind. He reached for her hand any time they were out and about in public. Hers was always there to meet him halfway. 

“You’re pretty handy for parting a crowded sidewalk,” Darcy said one late afternoon. They’d spent longer at the Museum of Modern Art than they’d originally planned and were headed back to the Tower as everyone else in Manhattan was headed home from work. Steve was walking directly in front of her, the number of people bustling down the sidewalk keeping them from standing side by side. Her left hand was in his right, which he had firmly against his back. He could feel her knuckles through the Yankees sweatshirt he wore—a necessary bit of blasphemy for a Dodgers fan like himself, it was excellent camouflage—and her hand never faltered in his grasp. 

“So I hear,” he said. He grinned back at her over his shoulder. Her answering smile seemed to light up the whole block. 

 

His excuses for holding her hand were becoming weaker. 

Coney Island was busy, but by no means crowded. 

“I want to ride _all_ the rides, Steve. And look around! You won’t even have to worry about me getting stepped on by a gargantuan!” He cheeks were a delicate pink in the sun. She wore a pair of tight-fitting but obviously well-loved jeans and a t-shirt with Thor’s hammer emblazoned on it. A few strands of hair blew into her face in the sea breeze. She was beautiful. He swallowed, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear again.

“Just in case,” he said, holding out his hand to her. He hoped she would take it. She did. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her mouth curve into a grin. He was _not_ mentally clapping himself on the back. He wasn’t. (Except that he was.)

 

Eventually his stealthiness escaped him. Reaching out to take Darcy’s hand in a crowd of people had become commonplace for him. So much so, in fact, that he eventually did it without the crowd. 

“Hey Steve! Did you have fun terrorizing the baby agents?” Steve had been gone for two weeks, helping to train some new recruits upstate. He’d missed Darcy fiercely, even though she texted him regularly with silly picture and her own commentary of the goings on of the labs. She gave him a quick hug when she saw him in the lobby of Avengers Tower. It had been her idea for him to drive himself there and back. He enjoyed the drive up immensely but found himself wishing for the speed with which the quinjet could have brought him home. 

“It was training, not terrorizing. I only made three of them cry,” he said. She was walking next to him as he headed for the Avengers-only elevators. He shifted his duffel bag to his left hand and grabbed her hand with his right. “Hill is way worse than I am.”

She smiled up at him. “You know there’s only like five other people in the lobby. I don’t think I run the risk of me disappearing.” She gestured down to their entwined hands. She hit the button for the elevator with her unoccupied hand. 

He hadn’t realized he’d done it. It was second nature. It felt so good to have her hand in his. 

“Oh!” He dropped her hand immediately. “Uh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking and I didn’t mean-“ She shushed him and grabbed his hand again. 

“I’m a little surprised that Captain America takes things to the hand-holding level without ever asking his girl out on a date. The tabloids would be appalled.” The elevator doors slid open. Darcy stepped in.

“His girl? Date? Level?” Steve couldn’t seem to remember how to move. Darcy held out her hand.

“Are you coming, Steve? I’ve got a few more levels I could teach you.” She winked. Steve didn’t think he’d ever moved that fast in his life. 

 

When the elevator doors opened up to the Avengers communal floor, Tony Stark was only mildly surprised to see Steve holding Darcy up, her legs around his waist so that there face were level, kissing her enthusiastically. 

Tony slipped his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture before he cleared his throat. 

Steve and Darcy froze. She quickly hid her face in Steve’s neck in embarrassment. Steve adjusted his hold on Darcy and cut a glare at the other man. “What is it, Tony?”

“JARVIS wanted me to tell you that you left your duffel bag in the lobby…in front of the elevators. He said he didn’t want to interrupt you and Ms. Lewis.”

Steve didn’t answer. Holding Darcy up with one arm, he pressed the button for the lobby with a little more force than necessary. As the doors shut he turned his attention back to his girl. They pointedly ignored the laughter that could still be heard as they descended. Otherwise occupied, they really didn’t care. 

 


End file.
